Hello there, and welcome to another trip report. This post is long over due and will showcase a flight I took in November 2021 with British Airways on their A380 in economy class. 

As a result of the Covid pandemic, BA, along with most of the worlds airlines, grounded the majority of their long-haul fleet as demand for passenger travel evaporated. Most of BA's A380s ended up being mothballed in Teruel, Spain, as the weather is perfect for storing aircraft. In October 2021, with the demand for passenger travel finally beginning to tick up, BA announced that they would be bringing the mighty whale back to the skies, with flights starting back in November 2021 between London and certain European cities for crew familiarisation, before being put back on long-haul routes. One of these intra-European routes would be from London's Heathrow airport (LHR) to Frankfurt Main (FRA) in Germany. With German airline Lufthansa also being an A380 operator, and with Frankfurt having recieved daily A380 flights from Emirates, Korean Air, Asiana and Singapore Airlines pre-pandemic, this was the perfect route for these flights. 
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This flight was a no-brainer for me. Having never flown on an A380 before, and having the opportunity to take a flight on one so close to home, I had to do it. I went on to the BA website to look at the schedule, and it so happened that the A380 was flying the LHR-FRA-LHR route the day before my birthay, now I had a proper excuse. I booked the A380 flight, and then booked a cheap early morning flight with Lufthansa from Dublin to Frankfurt and an Aer Lingus flight from Heathrow back to Dublin. Three flights in one day, with one being an A380, the perfect day!

The day of departure finally rolled around, and I took my flight to Frankfurt with Lufthansa. Once arriving in Frankfurt, I made my wat to the BA check-in desk to recieve my boarding pass. Online check-in was unavailable at this time, as vaccination and travel locator forms were still required and checked by staff before boarding tickets could be issued. 

Check-in took longer than expected, and even though I had a three hour layover before continuing on to London, I made my way to security as soon as possible. I've been to Frankfurt many times, and even though I knew passenger numbers were still below where they were in 2019, I wasn't taking a chance - Frankfurt security can be an absolute nightmare!!

Through security, I made my way straight to the departure gate to ensure I got a view of the whale landing and making the taxi in. Despite it being a miserable and foggy day in Frankfurt, that didn't dampen spirits and you could feel the buzz and excitment build at the gate as the aircraft came into view. 

G-XLEG would be the aircraft doing the honours today. Delivered new to British Airways in Setember 2014, she is one of 12 A380's in the fleet. With a configuration of 14 suites in First Class, 97 lie-flat bed seats in Club World, and 199 standard seats in World Traveller on the main deck, the upper deck consisted of 55 recliner seats in World Traveller Plus and 104 standard seats in World Traveller. The upper deck was closed for todays flight, however the crew did provide tours of the upper deck once we were in the cruise. 

My seat for todays flight was 40K, all the way down the back of Economy on the main deck. The seats are in a 3-4-3 layout back here and I was luck to have the three seats to myself for this short flight of just over 1 hour. The seats have a width of 17.5 inches and with a pitch of 31 inches, this was more the sufficient for a small guy like me. The entertainment box for the IFE is under the seat in front, which can be quite annoying, however there is a bit of room between the aircraft wall and the seat which I found great to put my right leg when stretching out. Each seat had it's own IFE screen, earphone jack and USB charging port, which were all fully operational throughout the entire flight. 

During the boarding process, the crew we absolutely amazing. You could tell the majority of people on todays flight were primarily on it just to fly the A380 and the crew were feeding off this excitment. You could tell they were thrilled to be back flying on the mighty whale, and it really did feel like a corner had been turned in the Pandemic.

Below is a video of our departure from Frankfurt, I hope you enjoy the sound of those Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines spooling up, I know I did :) Every time I see an A380 take off, I'm always amazed at the engineering and physics behind powered flight, and just how gracefully this aircraft gets into the air. On the takeoff roll, and even though it was slow and steady, you could still feel how much power the aircraft had at its disposal. It really was a graceful and comfortable take off. 

Once in the air, the crew jumped into action with the on-board service. With limited services still being provided, and it being just over a one hour flight, we were gived a bottle of still water and a packed of crisps. Perfect for such a short sector. 

I spent the rest of the flight just enjoying being on such a mamoth aircraft. It had been nearly 10 years since I flew on my last Boeing 747, also with British Airways, so being on such a massive wide-body and not having to fly far was a real treat! Here are some views from the cruise:

Before long, we began to make our approach into a miserable Heathrow airport, and our flight would soon be coming to an end. Below is a video of our approach and landing in Heathrow. 

Once we had parked up at the gate and during disembarking process, I asked a memeber of the cew if it was possible to get a view of the cockpit.. if you never ask you'll never know. They of course obliged and I was able to sit in the right hand seat and get a photo. I was like a child in a sweet shop, I couldn't have been happier!!

To sum up my flight, it was such a unique experience to fly on such a big aircraft on such a short flight. The crew knew how special the flight was and what it represented, for both their company and aviation geeks alike. Their willingness to engage to with the passengers to the extent that they did, is unrivalled and something I haven't experienced since. I hoep to get to fly on an A380 again in the future, but if I don't, I still have the above picture to bring me back to this great day. 

Thank you so much for reading this post, I do hope you liked it. I have since flown on another British Airways wide-body between Frankfurt and London, any regular viewers of my Instagram account will know what I'm talking about here, and this will be my next blog post. 

Until then, take care. Daniel - TheRegHunter.

Hello every, and you're very welcome to my last post of 2021. Personally, it's been an amazing year for me in aviation. As you can see from my stats above, with the help from myFlightradar24, 11 flights over nearly 4,300 miles and over 16 hours in the air... Not a bad tally at all considering Covid-19 is still far from over. Behind these figures are two new airports visited, being Kerry (KIR) and Donegal (CFN), two new airlines travelled on being Amapola and Air France, and two new aircraft types being the Airbus A380 and Fokker 50. 

To kick off the milestones of this year, the top one has to be getting the chance to fly on the British Airways Airbus A380 from Frankfurt (FRA) to London Heathrow (LHR). I'm sure the whole aviation world were fearful that they'd never get to fly on this great bird again when Air France and Lufthansa announced that they'd be retiring their A380 fleets with immediate affect. Then, out of the blue, BA announced that they were bring back the mighty whale, starting with intra-European flights for the month of November. I was so fortunate to fly on this a day before my birthday, what a birthday to remember. Below are some pictures from this flight and a full trip report will be posted in the New Year, so make sure you keep an eye out for it.

Another milestone in my eyes was getting the chance to fly on a Fokker 50. If you've seen my previous post, you'll know that the Swedish airline Amapola fly the Fokker from Donegal (CFN) to Dublin (DUB).  I had the privilege of flying on SE-MFY, a prime example of the fine aircraft that is the Fokker 50. It was certainly a flight that I'll never forgot, and I hope I'll get to fly on one again soon. 

A planespotting milestone for any avgeek is to get to see the Antonov AN225 in person, and after a 2 and a half hour drive to Shannon airport (SNN), this became real for me. I got the opportunity to see this mighty cargo aircraft land, take a look below... What an opportunity!

It was a great year for planespotting in general for me. I was able to return to my favourite airport, Frankfurt (FRA), for a day of spotting and I also finally managed to make it to Myrtle Avenue in London. Below are just a selection of photos taken, rest assured there are many more to come.

I'd like to you all for reading my posts this year, I have so much more content to share from 2021 and have a massive trip coming up later in 2022 so be sure to keep an eye here or on my Instagram.

​Until next time, take care.  Daniel- TheRegHunter.

Hello everyone, you're very welcome to my latest flight review. In this installment, I will be reviewing a small Swedish airline based out of Stockholm by the name of Amapola Flyg and their Fokker 50. The airline primarily operate in Sweden and Finland with a fleet of 16 Fokker 50 aircraft, 8 in passenger configuration and 8 in cargo configuration, and a single BAe Jetstream 32. 

With the demise of Stobart Air earlier in the year, the Donegal to Dublin route was up for tender, and to every Irish avaition geeks amazement, this little known airline and their Fokker 50 were confirmed to recommence the route. I remember the excitment I felt when I first read that the Fokker 50 would be back in Irish skies once more. Aer Lingus did operate the Fokker 50 from 1989 to 2001, however this was before my trip reporting days so I just had to book a round trip here and tick this aircraft type off the list. Now don't get me wrong, I adore the B737 and A320, but it's so rare these days to get on a different aircraft type, you have to take the opportunity when it presents itself. 

The aircraft is based in Donegal and operates a double daily rotation to Dublin, with the aircraft on the gound in Dublin for quite some time after it's first flight from Donegal. The airline website is very easy to use and I was able to book both the outbound and return leg at the same time, which was nice, as with some airlines you need to book two one way tickets if the arrival time of the inbound flight and the departure time of the outbound flight is too close together. With a total price of €110, I was all booked in and excited for the flight. A new airline, a new aircraft type and a new airport, the Holy Trinity for aviation geeks,

The day of departure finally arrived and I made my way to the airport for my 15:10 departure to Donegal. Amapola use Terminal 1 at Dublin and todays flight was departing from the 200 gates, 213 to be exact, and there was our aircraft waiting for us. SE-MFY was the registration, a 31 year old Fokker 50 that made its maiden flight in December 1989. MFY was first delivered to DLT with registration D-AFKH  and hen also served with Air Nostrum, Lufthansa Cityline, VLM and CityJet before ending up with Amapola.  With a passenger capacity of 50 in full economy class layout, and wth only 6 people including myself making the trip up to Donegal this afternoon, boarding commenced on time and was finished very quickly.  With a 2-2 seat configuration, and no allocated seats, the passengers were free to sit wherever they liked. Nice touch Amapola!! 

I chose seat 7A for the flight out, right beside the engine to get a perfect view of the landing gear. The seat offered excellent leg room, as you can see from the picture above, better than on any LCC, and there were even cigarette ashtrays in the arm rest. It's been a long time since I last saw one of those on an aircraft, and you could really feel the history of the aircraft sitting in the seat. I don't know about other people, but I can always get a very distinct "old aircraft" smell when exploring aircraft like this on the ground. I've gotten it a number of times in various aviation museums around the world and it's a smell I just love, the planes are literally reeking with history.. I'm guessing it's the smell of grease! 

​With such a small cabin on the Fokker 50, there is only a need for a single cabin cew member, and our person was today was Isak. He completed the pre-flight safety procedure, walked through the cabin and then we were all set to go. We were pushed back, the engines were started and we made our way out to Dublins runway 28 Left for an immediate takeoff. 

Having never been on a properllor aircraft bigger than a Cessna 152, I was extremely surprised with the take off performance of this bird with it's 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW125B turboprop engines producing 2,500hp each. Granted the aircraft was quiet light with only 9 souls on board including the crew, it was a very similar take off to that of the Boeing 757, all power and noise and we were airborne very quickly. After departure, we made a gentle left turn and began making our way north towards Donegal.  With a very short flight time of just 36 minutes, and cruising at 16,000 ft, there was not much to see out the window as in typical Irish fashion the country was completly covered in cloud. 

Having been voted as the most scenic airport in the world three years in a row, the approach into Donegal can be quiet spectacular to say the least on a clear day. Today wouldn't be one of those days for us unfortunately, with the odd break in cloud giving those on the left side of the aircraft a view of the Wild Atlantic Way below before making our landing onto a wet runway  03/21.

We vacated the runway and made our way towards the small but quaint terminal building where we disembarked. My connection time for the return leg wasn't as tight as my recent flight with Ryanair, so I was able to relax and enjoy the small departure lounge, which offered great views of the ramp area and our waiting aircraft. 

Boarding commenced for the return to Dubin and it was free seating once again, with 13D being my chosen seat. The sky had cleared up somewhat, and better views were provided as we climbed with views of the beach and sea visible. 

It was a quick flight back down through the centre of Ireland and before long we were lining up for landing onto Dublins runway 27L, a little under two hours after we departed from the same runway. 

It was a quick taxi to the gate upon landing, and once the engines had been switched off and everyone had disembarked, I had the opportunity to visit the cockpit and have a quick chat with the crew before grabbing one last pic with MFY and heading home. 

To sum up my experience with Amapola, I enjoyed every second with them. The crew were very professional, so warm and welcoming and you could tell they loved their job and loved working on the Fokker 50.  Setting foot on the Fokker felt like going back in time to the golden age of aviation, all the smells, sounds and even the cigarette ashtrays in the seats made the flight that little bit better. In todays age of jet powered aircraft, it felt like a privilege to be able to fly on such an old aircraft, and it will be an experience I will never forget. With a price of €110 and a total distance of 450km, this flight worked out at  €0.24 per km. Worth every penny, especially since this price would have included a checked in bag also!  I hope to fly with Amapola again soon, maybe next time in Sweden and try out their BAe Jetstream for  a change! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this review, I hope you enjoyed it and if you've any comments or recommendations please do email me at [email protected] or visit my Instagram page "TheRegHunter".

Until next time, take care.  Daniel- TheRegHunter.

Hello everyone and welcome to another trip report. In this latest installment, I will be reviewing Ryanair and the short hop from Dublin to Kerry. The route was formally operated by Stobart Air under the Aer Lingus Regional banner using ATR 42 and 72 aircraft, however when they sadly went under earlier this year, this PSO route became unserviced. After months of no operations, it was announced that Ryanair would pick up this route and I booked it through their website as soon as the flight went on sale. Having been over a year since I flew on the BN2 with Aer Arann Islands, and nearly two years since I was last on a jet, I was very much looking forward to taking this flight... even if it was with Ryanair. 

Scheduled for 55 minutes one way on the usual Boeing 737-800, with a 25 minute "Ryanair" turnarond, time would be against me to re-board the aircraft for the return leg as I would have to dismebark the aircraft, run across the tarmac into the arrivals hall, go back through airport security and make my way back to the gate for boarding. Thankfully, Kerry is a very small regional airport so I was able to do all that with plenty of time to spare. 

As this was my first time flying during Covid-19, and with all the horror stories going around of three hour queues at airport security in Dublin, I made my way to the airport early with plenty of time to spare for my 11am departure. As many frequent Ryanair travellers will know, the airline departs from Terminal 1 in Dublin, and with both boarding passes in hand, there was not a queue in sight as I made my way through security to reach the bording gates. My flight today was departing from gate 109, so I made my way through all the bustling duty free shops, picked up a bottle of water in WH Smith and made my way towards the 100 gates to do some customary plane spotting. For all you spotters out there, the odd numbered 100 gates provide great views of the 200 gates directly opposite, and the even numbered gates look onto the 300 gates on the far side. From here, you can also see any aircraft making its way to Terminal 2 from the active runway. Below is just a selection of photos that I took:

Before long, the aircraft that would be taking us to Kerry arrived in from London Sansted. Today, it would be EI-EVO, a 9 year old Boeing 737-800 delivered new to Ryanair in April 2012. 

Boarding commenced on time at 10:35, with priority passengers boarding first and then non-priority. With not many people making the trip down to Kerry this morning, it wasn't long till we were makimg out way down to the tarmac to board Victor Oscar. 

Ryanair have their 737s kitted out with 189 seats all in economy class, in a 3-3 configuration. With a 30 inch pitch and 17 inches in width, the seat is only 1 inch tighter than what you would get on a Lufthansa A320. Being a small man, the leg room was more than sufficient for me on this short flight however please note that these seats do not recline. 

The aircraft was sufficiently clean, considering the times we live in, however no hand sanitiser or cleaning wipes were handed out when boarding so keep this in mind if you are flying Ryanair. My seat for today was 24A ad it provided quite the view. 

With such a light load on todays flight, this resulted in us leavng the gate a few minutes early and me having a whole row to myself! On our quick taxi out we passed by an Air Canada Dreamliner arriving from Toronto, an Icelandair Max parked at the gate and a selection of Aer Lingus parked beside a Delta Boeing 767 at Terminal 2. 

It was a turn and burn departure this morning, departing from Dublins Runway 28L, and making a left turn after departure over Dunboyne towards the south of the country.

It was a cloudy day, and even with a cruising altitude of 20,000 feet we were still below the cloud with the blue sky making a rare appearance at the Top Of Descent. 

As this was such a short flight, the cew jumped into action as soon as we made the left turn, offering buy on board breakfast, tea, coffee, soft drinks and an array of fragrances for both him and her. As this was an internal flight, no alcohol was sold on board. Please note that all Ryanair flights are now cashless so please bare that in mind when looking to purchase items . 

Before long, we began our descent into the Kingdom, making a straight in arrival onto Kerrys Runway 26. Once we had broke through the cloud, we were treated to a grey and rainy view of the Kerry countryside, however, this did offer some great opportunities for some atmospheric shots with vapour coming off the trailing edge of the flaps. 

After a flight time of 33 minutes, we landed in Kerry with the signature Ryanair THUMP! 

We made our way to the end of the runway and vacated, making our way towards the small terminal. This was my cue to get ready to run, because as soon as the passengers were off the aircraft, boarding would begin and I would need to be in that queue. With the seatbelt sign switched off, and the stairs attached to the back of the aircraft, I made my way, very swiftly, through arrivals and back through the security check to re-board. I was literally putting my belt back on as I was scanning my ticket at the gate! I did make it though, and I wasn't the last! 

Victor Oscar would be taking me back to Dublin, as you probably guessed! Settled into seat 24F, once boarding was completed, we backtracked down to the beginning of Runway 26, made U-turn and set-off for Dublin. 

After departure, we made a 180 degree turn to the right and made our way up the centre of Ireland reaching a cruising altitude of 23,000 feet. No change in the weather on the way back, with plety of clouds to be seen. The crew conducted the same style of service as the flight out, and with a flight time of just 36 minutes we were back in Dublin before we knew it landing once again with a good old fashioned Ryanair THUMP!

Making our way back to the gate, I was able to get a snap of the next aircraft and airline that I would be travelling on and doing a review of, Amapola and their Fokker 50.  Make sure you keep an eye on my Instagram where I'll let you know once that report has published. 

Once we were parked up at the gate, I waited until everyone had disembarked and I made my way up to the cockpit to get a few snaps of the flight deck. A huge thank you must go out to the crew for allowing me to have a look up the front and for also allowing me to take the pictures. 

To sum up my flights, they were both perfect for what I was after.. An avgeek just trying to get back in the air withough having to quarantine on arrival. The aircraft was clean, the crew were extremely friendly and vibrant and both flights were extremely enjoyable. A proper Ryanair experience. With a total price of €58 and a total distance of 518km, this worked out as €0.11 per km.. Bargain!! I have to say it was great to be back flying again, even if it was just down to Kerry on Boeing 737, and it was great to see the airport in Dublin full of passengers heading off t destinations afar. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this review, I hope you enjoyed it and if you've any comments or recommendations please do email me at [email protected] or visit my Instagram page "TheRegHunter". Stay tuned, for next I will be reviewing the small Swedish airline Amaploa and their Fokker 50 to Donegal. 

Until then, take care.  Daniel- TheRegHunter.

Greetings everyone and welcome to my first airline trip report and review. I first posted this back in August 2020 however I have decided to re-write the review, including more pictures and also giving a more detailed account of  Aer Arann Islands and what it as like to fly on the BN 2 Islander. 
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To give a little background on the airline itself, Aer Arann Islands was founded in 1970 to provide an island hopping air service between Galway and the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.  The Aran Islands are a group of three islands located in the mouth of Galway bay and consist of Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer. Aer Arann Islands operate from their base in Connemara on the Irish mainland to small aerodromes on each island on a relatively frequest basis. The airline currently operates a fleet of three Britten-Norman BN2 Islander aircraft which can accomadate 9 passengers with one lucky person sitting in the right hand seat of the cockpit. When I took these flights, unfortunately due to Covid-19, the cockpit seat was unavailable. 

With Covid-19 gripping the world, and with the global airline fleet more or less grounded during 2020, going abroad for a summer holiday was out of the question. After doing some research, myself and my parter decided to spend a week in Galway and this gave us a great opportunity to visit the Aran Islands, specifically Inishmore, for the day and for me to try out Aer Arann Islands and their BN2 Islander.  Having family in Galway, I had passed the aerodrome in Connemara many times in the past, and the airline and aircraft were on my "To Fly" list. A few weeks before our weeks holiday, I sent an email to Aer Arann and requested 2 seats on the flight to and from Inishmore. A response was quicky recieved and we were booked on the 10:00 flight out to Inishmore and on the 16:15 flight back to the mainland.  

The day of our trip finally arrived, and with the rain pouring down in true Irish fashion, we made our way out to Connemara aerodrome. The airfield is roughly 20 minutes from Galway city centre and is found eaily enough. The above branding greeted us as we entered the aerodrome car park, we quickly found a space, and made our way into the terminal building. I use the word terminal loosely as the building was no bigger than a local shop. 

We made our way straight up to the check-in desk and receievd our ticket for both legs of the trip. As seating was allocated by weight, we were advised that the pilot would tell us where to sit when  boarding the aircraft. A quick safety demonstration  was shown on a TV in the lobby and we were shortly brought out to the aircraft. Our aircraft would be EI-AYN, a 46 year old BN2-A Islander first delivered on the 29th of April 1974. 

As you can imagine on such a small aircraft, the seats were quite small and tight, however for just a 7 minute flight, this wasn't a problem. In the seat pocket in front, there was a safety card and a sick bag. I can imagine the sick bags are used quite often on a rough day. 

Once everyone was aboard, and the cargo loaded, we made our way out to the runway and back-tracked to the piano keys at the start of it - with such a small runway available we'd need all the runway we could take. Once lined up, an engine run-up was completed and with full brakes applied full throttle was set. The two Lycoming engines roared, brakes were released and soon we were barrelling down the runway. After a long take-off roll, we climbed into the cloudy Irish sky and made our way west towards the islands. Luckily for us, cloud base was high enough, and we were able to get decent views of the wild Atlantic sea below.

After only a couple of minutes airbourne, we began to make our descent towards Inishmore. 

With limited landing space on Inishmore too, we needed every bit of runway we could get, the stall warning alarm could be heard from the cockpit  just before the main landing gear touched the ground. Maximum braking was applied and we were down safely with it still raining at our destination. Within minutes of landing, we were off the aircraft and on our way to explore the island, however just before disembarking was able to get a quick snap of the cockpit.

A great day was had biking around Inishmore and soon enough we were back at the small aerodrome for our return flight back to the main land. The terminal here was even smaller than the one in Connemara as you'll see in the picture below, it was basically just one room. 

The aircraft taking us on the return leg would be EI-AYN once again, boarding commenced shortly after we arrived at the aerodrome and soon enough we were back in the air cruising above the choppy sea. 

The flight was a short one again, consisting of 6 minutes in total, and before we knew it we were back in Connemara. One last snap with our aircraft on the ground and we made our way back to the car. Please forgive the wet-gear in the photo below, it was lashing rain for most of the day out there!!

Overall I was very satisified with the service Aer Arann Islands provided us. At a price of €55 per person return, and with a total distance of 45km, it worked out at €1.22 per km... a bargain in my eyes to fly such a rare aircraft these days. Their frequency of flights to and from the islands is very reasonable, with multiple departure times to choose from and their customer service at both airports is second to none considering how small an airline it is. Great job Aer Arann Islands, I will be certainly recommending you to anyone who will listen to me  and I look forward to flying with you again. 

And to you, the reader, thank you so much for taking the time to read my review of this wonderful little airline. If you enjoyed this post, please do let me know in the comments below or pop me an email at [email protected]. Tune in next week, when I will be doing a review of one of Ryanairs newest routes, Dublin to Kerry. 

Until then, take care.  Daniel- TheRegHunter.

Greetings all and welcome to my little corner of the web which I'm devoting to aviation photography and airline trip reports. I had launched TheRegHunter.ie last year, however with Covid-19 firmly gripping the world at the time, I hit the pause button on the idea until things looked a bit brighter. I had already posted a trip report of my flight with Aer Arann Islands on their BN2 Islander, and will be posting this again to keep everything in order.  Since deciding to return to the idea of blogging, I have taken 3 trips already this year with a total of 6 flights and I will be posting the details of these flights in order over the next few weeks so please do stay tuned.

In between each trip report, I will be posting photos from various plane spotting visits to Dublin Airport and abroad. My goal is to post at least once a week to start, I have quite a lot of content to share over the next few weeks and I have a few upcoming trips too which will keep things ticking over. 
Until my first post here, you can find some of my photos on Instagram, "thereghunter", or you can contact me at [email protected].

​Thanks for visiting and take care.